By Wafa Amr RIYADH, March 27 (Reuters) - The Arab peace plan could be Israel's last chance to live in a "sea of peace" and should not be squandered, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday. "This initiative simply says to Israel 'leave the occupied territories and you will live in a sea of peace that begins in Nouakchott and ends in Indonesia'," he said, referring to the Mauritanian capital in West Africa and the southeast Asian country that is the world's most populous Muslim country. "If this initiative is destroyed, I don't believe there will be another opportunity in the future like this," he said in an interview with Reuters and two other news outlets. Abbas was speaking after arriving in Riyadh for a two-day Arab summit starting on Wednesday. The summit is set to renew an Arab offer of normal ties with Israel in return for its full withdrawal from all land it seized in 1967, the creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees. "This is the most important initiative since 1948 to solve the problem of the Israeli occupation," Abbas said, referring to the year when Israel came into existence in a war that saw hundreds of thousands dispersed from their homeland. "It presents solutions for all parties concerned who are seeking a settlement." Part of diplomatic moves to revive peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians and help bring the Arab-Israeli conflict to an end, the summit will also urge the world to fully accept the new Palestinian unity government, led by Hamas. Hamas has refused to recognise Israel and given only vague support for the Arab initiative. Palestinian officials say the Islamist group has agreed not to go against the plan during the summit. "We have told the Americans to accept this government, this is the choice of the Palestinian people ... Palestinians have tolerated a year of isolation, and they cannot tolerate another year of such suffering," Abbas said. "If the world deals with this government with rejection and isolation I think the repercussions will be very grave for the Palestinian people and the entire region..." Israel rejected the Arab peace initiative when it was first offered but has recently been more upbeat. It has refused to deal with the Palestinian government. A Western boycott on diplomatic contacts has eased since the appointment of non-Hamas ministers to the cabinet, but economic sanctions remain in place and the new coalition is showing signs of internal strain with factional violence flaring in Gaza. Saudi Arabia brokered the Palestinian unity government deal earlier this year, ending months of infighting. It has taken the lead with the Arab peace initiative it floated in 2002.
